Foxpro Deadbone Review

Summary: The Foxpro Deabone is a great entry level caller for the beginner predator hunter. The call is also effective as a backup or emergency caller if you want to pack it on a big hunting trip. If you’re looking for a gift for a friend or loved one, this call is a great quality call at an affordable price. After spending a few days with this call in the field I give the call a 84 rating out of a possible 100. (See our scoring system.)

The Deadbone Digital Game Call

The deadbone electronic caller is one of the simplest, lightweight calls on the market. Foxpro has taken years of feedback from predator hunters and incorporated it into this simple unit. The call features a few firsts for foxpro. This is the first call allowing the remote to fit into the caller for ease of carrying. It’s the first call in years that doesn’t allow you to change sounds, you get 15 high quality sounds standard.

What impressed me most about the call was how lightweight it was and how portable the unit is. Having the remote be part of the unit will make it easier to carry the unit in the field and keep track of the remote. I once lost a fury remote and spent 7 hours trying to find it, this should prevent that type of mistake.

The remote is a new look for the Foxpro units, and I was really impressed with it. The quick responsiveness impressed me the most. I used it on several stands and I was pleased with the led indicator feedback, and how fast the caller responded to the commands. This unit is a winner, well done Foxpro.

Deadbone Call Volume Test

With the unit running off 4 AA batteries, the power to blast loud volumes is out of the question. I expected the volume to be similar to the Spitfire, Wildfire, and Inferno callers. In this test I used all of the sounds and the unit was placed 1 meter (~40 inches) from the decibel meter.

The caller maxed out at 109.3 decibels with the Jackrabbit sound. I was surprised to see it perform this well, I was anticipating the call to be in the 104-107 dB range. All of the sounds (except vole squeaks) surpassed 107 dB, with most in the mid 108 dB range. Not going to knock your socks off, but it called in the coyote, pictured above, just an hour before my tests.

Deadbone Remote Range

The remote range on the deadbone was put to the test in the field and resulted in a huge surprise for me. I wasn’t expecting the remote to do well once I moved further than 100 yards. Out in the brush I used a measuring tape and marked of 75, 100, 125, and so on up to 200 yards. I began giving commands to the call, adjusting volume, changing sounds, and once I was satisfied I moved further away in the brush. I couldn’t believe how the remote continued to respond on cue as I gave several commands at each distance.

At 175 yards the remote did not respond to my first command, but I realized I had the remote angled away from the call and pointing the antenna downward. Once I held the antenna upward and faced the call, it responded to 15 commands without a glitch. The same thing happened again at 200 yards, but I quickly adjusted how I was holding the remote, and once again it responded without skipping a beat. I was seriously impressed.

NOTE: While using this style of remote try not to use it like a TV remote by pointing it at the caller. Instead, make sure the remote antenna is pointing up in the air, in order to send a proper signal. If you’re not getting a response from the ecall, you’ll need to lift the remote higher in the air to transmit a signal, or move the call closer to you. Better yet, make sure you have the call and remote turned on.

Deadbone Unit Weight

Deadbone

Without Batteries

With Batteries

Remote Only

2.4 oz.

4 oz.

Call Only

1 lb. 1.8 oz.

1 lb. 5 oz.

Both

1 lb. 4.2 oz.

1 lb. 9 oz.

What I like about the Foxpro Deadbone:

Lightweight, extremely portable.

Having only 15 sounds makes your decisions simple. Having too many at times leaves you second guessing and over thinking it.

Without an LCD screen you’ll have less chance of reflections that can spook predators.

The sound choices are well balanced and chosen by professionals. Well done FoxPro.

Although I didn’t use it often, I like the ability to play two sounds at once.

The pilot lamp (led indicator) is a nice indicator that your commands are working.

The remote text is extremely small and I wouldn’t recommend this unit if you use reading glasses. I don’t know how they could improve this, perhaps by using shorter descriptions.

Almost all other Foxpro’s have a 1/4″ 20 thread on the bottom to use with a a small tripod, this call doesn’t sadly.

What I don’t like about the Deadbone, potential problems:

The remote doesn’t have glow in the dark labels, this unit was difficult to use in the dark for night hunting.

While I like the remote, the plastic seems much thinner than other Foxpro remotes.

The smaller antenna is nice, but has potential for breaking. Make sure you take care of it or you’ll be bummed when it snaps.

Deadbone Sound List

The sounds for this unit represent a great selection of calls. Whoever put this together at FoxPro did a great job. A lot of beginners think you only need a dozen or so rabbit distress sounds, but calling requires a well rounded selection of distress, confidence, territorial, and curiosity calls. I have called and killed coyotes on the grey fox pup distress (top 5 sound in my opinion), snowshoe hare, fawn distress, and nutty nuthatch (favorite sound of FoxPro’s Abner Druckenmiller). While 15 may seem like too little for some, this is actually a perfect predator setup.

Recommended Accessories

I would recommend getting a quality AA battery charger with batteries. You will save yourself a lot of money by getting this and taking care of the batteries versus buying new batteries every other time you go calling.

Get a nice carry case to keep your unit protected and free from the elements. Plus when it’s time to head out for a hunt, you’ll have everything ready to go in one place.

Add a simple decoy to help keep the eyes of the predator locked in on the source of the sound and movement.

Comparable Callers

Foxpro Deadbone For Sale

Final Scorecard

After using the call on five different hunts, including one night hunt, I have scored the call based on ten areas. Overall the call comes in with a rating of 84/100. There’s not too much to complain about with this call. I highly recommend it!

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12 Comments

Doug Shandera
on December 10, 2016 at 8:01 am

Last time I me I owned a predictor call it took cassettes would be nice to get back in the field with an updated called my other one broke

I had a foxpro wildfire 2 there are no better sounding calls on the market. Mine was stolen out of a storage unit. BUT YOU CAN BET THAT I WILL HAVE NOTHING BUT THE BEST THAT’S WHAT FOXPRO IS .great call and to anyone wondering don’t bother with the rest Buy A Foxpro You Won’t Find Anything Out there that can beet it.

1st time out with the Deadbone caller 30minutes out of the box 1coyote less to worry about. Woodpecker sound did the trick 10 minutes into my hunt. Elderly mother has been afraid to let her dogs out, taking command of our land again. Recommend this lite weight call for quick set ups and easy moves.